MOSCOW - Father and son, a thick-necked pair of career criminals who turned a
botched burglary into a grisly triple murder, knew they wouldn't have much of a
chance in a regular, Soviet-style trial with a Russian judge. Their checkered
pasts - and a parade of 81 prosecution witnesses - would see to that.

So Valery Chernishov, a convicted rapist, and his son Denis, a veteran thief
and extortionist, decided to request a jury trial - one of the first murder
trials by jury ever to be held in Russia.

Jury trials are the latest innovations in what has been a revolutionary
overhaul of Russia's Criminal Procedure Code. Used only for serious crimes, jury
trials became official throughout the country on Jan. 1.

The old Soviet code, which had been written circa 1961, "belonged to
another era," said Elena Snegireva, the judge in the Chernishov case.

"These are historic moments for us, yes, and it's nice to feel like
you're part of something big," she said. "I like the democratic
feeling of the new code."

Some of the new code's other changes:

- Defendants are now presumed innocent until proved guilty. Previously, quite
the opposite was true. Under the old communist code, only one case in 270
resulted in an acquittal. Now, in jury trials, it's about one case in five.

- Suspects must be seen by a judge within 48 hours of arrest.

This reform is expected to reduce what leading human-rights attorney Karinna
Moskalenko calls "an absolute plague of torture in the Russian justice
system."

"The suspect now has the chance to shout to the judge, `Do you see these
bruises and cuts? Do you see how I was questioned?' " said Moskalenko.
"This is a GREAT step forward."

- Judges now issue all arrest warrants - arrests are down 33 percent under
the new code - and only judges may approve searches and wiretaps. They also now
decide on bail. Previously, prosecutors could issue warrants and made all bail
decisions.

- All defendants are immediately entitled to an attorney - paid for by the
court, if necessary. Any confessions obtained without a suspect's lawyer being
present can be challenged and thrown out. Plea-bargaining is also permitted now.

But no plea bargains were offered to the Chernishovs. The robbery of $31,000
at the currency-exchange booth had been too well planned, the three ensuing
murders too wanton.

While the jurors brought in a 9-3 guilty verdict - majority rules in the
Russian jury system - they also asked the judge to deliver the maximum sentence
possible. Since there is a moratorium on the death sentence in Russia, that
meant a life sentence for Valery, 25 years for his son.

From her bench, Judge Snegireva told the Chernishovs that "the jurors
asked me to give you this sentence. I asked them specifically, and they said 25
and life. I am doing what they asked."

Azanov, the defense lawyer, said it was highly unusual for a Russian judge to
explain a sentence. Usually, it's just the facts, ma'am.

"It seems to me she tried to whitewash herself, to shift the
responsibility away from herself," Azanov said evenly. "But it must be
very hard to announce such sentences."

Pacing in the dingy hallway outside the courtroom, Valery's wife was livid.
She turned her anger on the jurors, the judge and the defense lawyers.

"I'll die before my son gets out!" she wailed. "I'll never see
my husband again!"

As he was being handcuffed and led away, Valery Chernishov said the trial had
not been fair.

"Of course not," he snarled. "I trusted the jurors at first,
but then they started to play games. By the end, I only liked two of them."

Still, his attorney knew a jury trial had been their only chance: "If we
hadn't had jurors we'd have been 100 percent sure of this sentence from the
outset."

Russian judges, attorneys, defendants, the police and prosecutors are all
still feeling their way with the new criminal code, some of them delighting in
its new freedoms and protections, others bridling at its new restraints and
impediments.

Prosecutors complain their hands are tied in gathering evidence and arresting
and questioning suspects. Judges complain about being pestered at all hours for
arrest warrants or bail hearings. And everyone acknowledges there aren't nearly
enough attorneys or judges to meet all the provisions of the new code.

Meanwhile, not-guilty verdicts in jury trials have increased more than
50-fold. Most legal reformers see this as democratic progress. Most
law-enforcement officials see it as criminal catch-and-release.

"Trial by jury still has very many enemies in our country," said
Moskalenko, the human-rights lawyer. "But these enemies are now losing
their hope that jury trials are a silly idea that Russia simply doesn't need.

"They're beginning to understand that jury trials aren't going to just
die out. They're a reality - our new reality."